By Paul Bignell
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Mr Porter said: "The excuses of not seeing cyclists seem to be too readily accepted by the police and the CPS so there isn’t a prosecution when there should be. Judges should be handing down stiffer sentences and prosecutors should be more ambitious in the choice of charges and the decision to prosecute," he said yesterday.
"It’s up to a judge and a jury to accept whether an excuse is good enough. It is not good enough to go into a space not knowing what is there. It’s all part of the car culture that doesn’t expect the motorist to foresee that the road might be occupied by a cyclist. That needs to change."
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"This needs to change because it’s becoming clear that cycling is the answer to many of society’s ills – whether that be climate change, obesity or improving busy roads. Cyclists need to be treated like they belong on the roads."
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Emma Chesterman, a friend of Ms Cairns, said: "He admitted his eyesight was not good enough and gets £200 and three points on his licence. It does not seem fair. We are bewildered by the whole system that treats cyclists’ deaths in this way. It seems to be the attitude that you are putting yourself in the way of danger and therefore it is your own fault if it happens to you, which is not the same as if it were a pedestrian killed."
The Department for Transport denied that cyclists are insufficiently protected.
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[B’ Spokes: This is exactly the same problem as here. The fines and punishments for denting a fender, knocking out a head light or totaling a vehicle is exactly the same whether talking about a car or a person as long as its a traffic "accident". I know, I know you are thinking don’t we have laws that provide extra fines if you injure or kill someone in a hit-and-run? Sorry they don’t apply if the driver is not drunk and didn’t know what they hit. Natasha Pettigrew where the police said while the case is still under investigation that the motorist violated no laws because the driver did not know what she hit. Well then how about the extra not more the $1000 and not more the 180 day license suspension for causing serious bodily harm or death when violating another *vehicles* right-of-way? Well, first pedestrains need not apply as they are not vehicles even though they comprise over 20% of Maryland’s traffic fatalities (National average is 12%) and Maryland has the 4th highest pedestrian fatality rate. Next read the fine print, the right-of-way is limited to intersections and driveways only. So Natasha Pettigrew. Larry Bensky and Curtis Leymeister fatalities don’t involve intersections so that’s not applicable. Speaking of Curtis Leymeister at least the driver got convicted of negligent driving … $313.00 which the Judge asserts is the maximum penalty, seriously? Other states are complaining that $2,500 is too low and look what we got.
The Jack Yates fatality should have been an ideal case for extra fines for violation of a cyclists right-of-way at an intersection but the police cited Yates at fault for failing to ride his bicycle like a motorcycle. So the police got the laws wrong in the Yates case, the police got the laws wrong in the Leymeister case. And I will assert the police got the laws wrong in the Pettigrew case, if not we need to seriously rewrite our hit-and-run law. The driver could have known and should have known she hit a cyclist as there was a bicycle stuck under her car as she drove away for three miles! And some witnesses say they spotted the driver inspecting the damages to her car. Excusing this kind of behavior should be done in court, not out of hand by police before the investigation is over. If the police cannot properly report a fatality which gets the highest level of attention by the police what hope do we have in less then fatal crashes?
Additional MDOT has historically been actively resisting any legal changes to Maryland code in our favor, more or less insisting that fines for damaging to a car should be exactly the same as damaging a person. What’s up with that? Doesn’t that exceed or violate their mission: "MDOT’s mission is to: Enhance the quality of life for Maryland’s citizens by providing a balanced and sustainable multimodal transportation system for safe, efficient passenger and freight movement."
Additionally while fighting against improved rights for vulnerable users, MDOT got double fines for highway workers. Clearly they suffer from a double standard. To MDOT’s credit they cut back in opposing us last year (possible the result of our complaints) but still they did a lot of damage in the Legislature from previous years testimony and they still have the potential to come back and oppose us, it is something we need to be ever vigilant on. I bring all this up as it’s still basically MDOT’s position that cyclists are sufficiently protected. This has to change! MDOT has grossly mishandled our Federal funding and announcing our new 3′ safe passing law. While we MIGHT get some improved safety information publicized by MDOT, IMHO they are still doing less then the best job they could in accommodating bicyclists and pedestrains on ALL roads in Maryland (either on State roads or helping fund local roads to better accommodate bicyclists and pedestrains via Federal funds given for that purpose.) MDOT is doing very poorly in educating and testing our drivers as they are more concerned about the time it takes to do the test then if drivers have sufficient knowledge about driving safely, not to mention the complete lack of professional psychometrics.
Another topic, last year’s negligent-killing-by-auto bill died in the House Judiciary Committee even though AAA supported it. The Chair of that committee… Vallario. if that name sounds familiar follow the link below for other criticisms of his actions in the legislature.
This is a huge, important and complicated battle and one that I am very impressed with how Bike Maryland is handling it and they really can use your support https://bikemd.org/page.php?id=146 . If there is any aspect of this article that motivates you in wanting change, write your rep and ask what they plan on doing to correct your concerns. Our reps not only have the power to improve laws they can call MDOT and the Police to task and get them to do a better job.]
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Natasha Pettigrew : https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/A-Law-Student-and-Senate-Candidate-Was-Struck-by-an-SUV-Sunday-103385829.html
Larry Bensky: https://larrysride.com/
Curtis Leymeister: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=200910061721167
Punishment for negligent driving: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20091203212215600
Yates and the police got the laws wrong: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20101202133743715
Leymeister and the police got the laws wrong: https://onelesscar.org/files/public/documents/11-3-09%20Resolution%20and%20Cover%20Letter%20to%20Maryland%20State%20Police.pdf
MDOTs mission: https://www.mdot.maryland.gov/Planning/STIPandTIP/Documents/MDOT_Non_Metropolitan_Consultative_Process_Brochure.pdf
Federal Funding: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20101024201028230
3′ Law coverage: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20101012170700484
3′ Law coverage (The poor summaries were taken right from the MVA website) : https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20101005122814769
Drivers’ test: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20091026093653431
Last year’s negligent-killing-by-auto bill (Note things are even worse now then what’s highlighted on that page).: https://www.baltimorespokes.org/article.php?story=20100313115139411
Vallario: https://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/traffic/2010/12/vallario_other_house_chairs_al.html
Find your legislators email address: https://mdelect.net/
Source for the beginning of the article: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cyclists-left-unprotected-by-police-and-courts-2179752.html oldId.20110109095139244
Biking in Baltimore